Monthly Archives: July 2015

Gallaudet going through a facelift? Don’t know butthere is an international design contest for world’sbest architects (both deaf and hearing) to makeGallaudet look better. A big challenge for themis to keep Gallaudet same as is (historic districtby the National Register of Historic Places) yetchange Gallaudet’s looks! How? Just don’t know.

— accidential invention helping the deaf

Rubber is an example of an accidential inventionthat helped the world. What about the deaf?Glide is a video software invented in 2013that was supposed to help people communicatemuch easier in video. These software engineershad no idea that the Deaf Community immediatelypicked it up for their own communication needs.So, for the deaf, Glide became an accidentialinvention!

— a businessman thinking of the deaf

Very few businesses think of the deaf. Examples arecash register with no displays; wall menus infast food places that are hard for the deaf topoint at; immigrant clerks that do not understandwritten English, etc. In the case of Dean Saunders,not deaf, he is a top realtor in Polk County,Florida with $650 in sales. He had his companyweb site videos captioned so that deaf customerscould review the houses they want to buy. Noone asked him to caption; he just did it onhis own.

Forbes is a business magazine that corporateofficers read along with big time investors.This magazine gave Gallaudet a grade of Ain the private college sector. Forbesevaluates colleges in terms of finances,endowment, reserves, assets, surplus,tuition, admission rate and other stuff.

— a new director of a state agency of the deaf

Former attorney Kelby Brick, who is deaf, has beenappointed as the director of Maryland Governor’sOffice of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It is homecoming thing for Kelby because back in 2001,the state opened this new office, after hespent considerable time lobbying for it!

Do mention Northern New York School for the Deaf (Malone, NY)and the chances are that no one has ever heard of it. Thisschool was closed in 1943. The campus, however, continuedfor 72 years. It is being razed soon. DeafDigest editorknew of an acquaintance that graduated from that school,and also met an alumni group at a deaf function inSyracuse, NY about 35 years ago.

The Snohomish County (Washington) 911 Center isable to get deaf 911 emergency texts. It wasset up three weeks ago, and so far, two deaftexts. Either deaf people have had just twoemergencies – or – there were many emergenciesin the deaf community but the deaf people justdidn’t use 911 text service?

DEAR AMY: About once a month, my wife and I get together with agroup of our friends for dinner. “Vivian” is a girlfriend of“Fred,” and is a very nice person.

However, Vivian has a very high, loud and screechy voice.

I deliberately try to sit down the table from her, but sometimesthis is not possible. I know Fred is aware of how annoying hervoice is (his facial expression sometimes gives it away), but Idoubt he has said anything to her.

I would like to say something to Fred, but my wife told me tohold off. She says it is rude. I simply do not want to attendany other gatherings where Vivian is in attendance.

What do you advise?Deaf in Maryland

DEAR DEAF: “Fred” is not in charge of his girlfriend’s voice.

Your choices are: To speak to “Vivian,” (i.e. “Would you mindlowering your voice just a little bit?”), stay home, or getover it. I vote for getting over it.

— deaf winner of Miss Teenage Toronto pageant

Neha-Samantha Banerjea, a 14-year old deaf girl, won theMiss Teenage Greater Toronto Area pageant. She willbe competing at the Miss Teenage Canada thisweekend.

Robert Nepinak, now a certified certified heavy equipmentoperator, in Canada, had a hard time convincing constructioncompanies to hire him because of his deafness. They feltdeaf people cannot drive cars, let alone operate heavyconstruction equipment. They would not believe him whenhe told them of his experience with rock truck, skid steer,dozer, packer and side boom. Even when he told them thereare 90 deaf semi truck drivers in Canada, they stillwouldn’t believe him. Years ago there was a deaf manin Maryland operating heavy equipment. He had no problemgetting thisjob – only because his father owned theconstruction company!

— fined for traffic violations caught on camera

Many cities use cameras to catch traffic violations,and then to mail the summons to violators’ homes.Where does the money go? In the case of Belfast,Northern Ireland, it goes to the purchase of videodisplays for the benefit of deaf passengerson buses and trains.

— not allowed to break a record

This is a true story. During the seventies, Kitty O’Neil,who was deaf, was a well known high speed driver on landand water. She broke 22 high speed records. Yet therewas one speed record she was not allowed to break! She anda male driver both shared the same car, called Motivator.He paid $25,000 for a contract that only allowed himto break the world’s overall record. Kitty, while allowedto break the women’s record, also wanted to break theworld’s overall record. Because of the contract, shewas not allowed to do so. Arguing between his attorneysand her attorneys went nowhere. It made Kitty verybitter about the whole speed politics.

Years ago Baba Sidhaye, who was deaf, was lauded asone of the best cricket players in India. He brokethree cricket records and played 51 matches withthe national Indian cricket team. A movie wasmade after him. He passed away in 2002, andhis son said that no one with the Indiancricket administrative board is willingto acknowledge his playing feats. He saidit is because he is deaf, an embarrassmentto the cricket administrative board.

— minimum accommodation and the deaf

What is minimum accommodation?

It is movie theater portable captioning device, and is notopen captions

It is VRI and not live interpreting at thehospitala and medical centers.

It is interpeter and not CART services in classrooms.

Said a deaf leader:that we don’t own rights to determine which accommodation is right

When deaf people move to a new residence,it is often a hassle to deal with hearingprofessional movers. As a result, manydeaf people ask their friends to help themwith the move. In Rochester, NY, there isa deaf-owned moving company, with about10 deaf movers. The company name isSilent Movers. Not only they move stuffbut they also do gardening services! Onlydeaf owned moving company in USA? No,there seems to be one in the Washington,DC area but DeafDigest doesn’t know anythingabout it – and also at several otherlocations. Robert Rademacher, thecompany CEO, said business is taking off.

You can take a look at the web siteand pictures of these deaf movers, aswell as deaf gardeners, at:http://silentlabors.com/

— hotel is confused about ADA

Everyone knows what is ADA. Do theyreally? A deaf couple checked in ahotel and reminded the staff of theirrights under ADA. The staff was confused,and then gave them a dental kit (toothbrushand toothpaste). Why? They thoughtADA meant American Dental Association!This incident is true, and is not a joke.

— deaf person not allowed to cross the railroad tracks

In a small British town, there is a law thatif anyone wants to cross the railroad tracksthey must use the phone box and ask forpermission. As a result, the deaf peoplewon’t cross the tracks and risk gettingsummons and pay the fine. A deaf personchallenged the law, asking how could hecross the tracks without getting intotrouble. The signalman replied:

Does ADA ignore children’s TV programs? A critic ofADA said that Disney and Nickelodeon do not havedeaf characters. These programs do have disabledcharacters from time to time. But deaf – no!

— Uber for the deaf drivers in a surprise nation

Africa is not known for giving the deaf theirfirst class rights (education, employment,captions, interpreters, etc). But there is asurprise in Kenya. Uber has been giving jobsto deaf drivers in Kenya. It is a pleasantsurprise.

Last month DeafDigest mentioned that famous TVtravel host Rick Steves hated movie captions.A deaf couple spent two weeks in Tuscany, Italy,following Steves’ travel tips for the disabledand the deaf.. Yet the travel book gave noaccessibility tips for the deaf. This coupleemailed Steves, explaining lack of accessibiitytips for the deaf. A staffer responded, but wasstumped and would refer it to Rick. To date, noresponse. Who was that couple? Gallaudet presidentAlan Hurwitz and wife Vicki!

— a new way of reaching out to the deaf community

There are many deaf groups that get together atlocal Starbucks for chatting over coffee. Andthere is a nice twist. Paula Rodriguez,founder and leader of Deaf Focus Services,Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is having a coffeechat at the local Starbucks with members ofthe deaf community. Much easier to reachthe deaf in an informal setting. How manyleaders would do the same thing – sharingsame coffee table and sipping coffeestogether?

we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of theADA and are thrilled about successes (interpeters,captions, etc). One nation said their own “ADA”has failed, and it is older than USA. In GreatBritain, the 1995 Disability Act was passed,finally after nearly 140 attempts to get theParliament to approve it. Yet, deaf Britishleaders are saying their own “ADA” is a jokecompared to USA!

— amazing thing about Beethoven we didn’t know about

we know that Beethoven composed his best music,and possibly the best in the world, after hebecame deaf. But there were two other amazingthings about him. He was an old man. He also wasisolated from the world – yet these, plus hisdeafness, did not stop him from composing theworld’s best music. Normally best music is composedby musicians that are much younger. And alsomusicians need to know what is going on in theworld; Beethoven didn’t.